Electric counter attachment for rotary meters.



E. H. MESSITER.

ELECTRIC COUNTER ATTACHMENT FOR ROTARY METERS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 22. 1912.

Patented Dec. 14, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

WITNESSES:

ATTORN EY COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH co., WASHINGTON, 0. c.

E.'H. MESSITER.

ELECTRIC COUNTER ATTACHMENT FOR ROTARY METERS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 22, 1912.

Patented Dec. 14, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

INVENTOR {MI IIML rm'irn srs earner orr ren.

EDWIN I-I. MEssIT'ER, oriertookLYiv, NEW YORK, nssrcrnon To ELECTRICW'EIGI-IING COMPANY,OF"NEW YORK, N. Y,

a eoareaamea or New roan.

ies-mes.

Specification of Lettrs'Pate'nt.

Patented Dec, 141, 1915.

Application"filedMarch 22, 1912- Serial No. 685,482.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, EDWIN H. Museum, a citiZen-ofthe United StatesofAmerica, and a resident ofBrooklyn, county of Kings, and State of N ew:York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements-in FlectricCounter Attachments for Rotary Meters, of'which the following isa-specification, reference being had to thefaccoinpanying drawings,forming a part thereof.

This invention relates to rotation counters and particularly toelectricactuators and controllers therefor.

One object ofthe inventionistoprovide an improved circuit closingdevice.

Another object is to provide a simple and effective circuit controllerattachment for electric meters, that shall be adapted to govern anelectrically operated rotation counter. 7

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be set forthhereinafter.

I will describe my invention in the following specification and pointout the novel features thereof in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figurel is a front elevation of anelectric meter embodying a circuit controller which is arranged andconstructed in accordance with this invention, the meter cover beingremoved and the controller shown in section. A. portion of thecontroller apart from the meter is shown in section on a larger scale inFig. 2. Fig. 3 is a central vertical section on line 3-3 of Fig. 4 andFig. 4 is a bottom plan view partly in section, of the rotarycontact-carrier which forms a part of the circuit controller of Figs. 1and 2. Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view of a system in which the metertogether with the circuit controller is employed.

As illustrated in said drawings the invention is applied to a well knownform of electric meter comprising a magnet 10, having poles 11 and 12,and mounted within a protecting casing 14:. Mounted above the poles 11and 12 is a casing 16, of insulating material which is closed at thebottom by a non-magnetic plate 18 of high resistance metal held in placeby an annular plate 20. The plate 20 is insulated from the bottom plate18 by a ring of insulation 21, and they are clamped together by bolts orbinding posts 22 and 23. The main current conductors 24:, 25 areconnected to binding posts 26, 27 respectively, which in turn, are connected by conductors 28, 29 with the binding posts 22, 23, respectively.

The lower portion of the chamber within the'casing 16 is filled withmercury 30 and the upper portion of said chamber contains oil 32,- thepurpose of the oil being to pre vent oxidation of the mercury.ltotatable within the mercury is a copper disk 3et1nounted ona shaft 35.This shaft is journaled at its lower end in astep hearing or jewel 36carriedby the plate 18, and the upper end ofsaid shaft'is jcurnaled in abearing 38. Int-order to relieve the end pressure of the shaft 35against the bearing 36, a float i0 is mounted on said shaft above thedisk 34-. The rotation ofthe shaft is retarded by a damping disk 42 ofaluminum, which rotates between the poles of oppositely disposedma-gnets, t3, 44.

As illustrated in Fig. 5, the meter may be installed in a circuit fed bya generator 4-5 and composed of conductorsQet, 25 and a variableresistance 46. The current enters the meter through the conductors 2 28,post 22, plate 18, mercury 30, copper disk 34-, mercury 30 again, plate18, post 23, and conductors 29 and 25. The metal plate 18 is of highresistance material and consequently the circuits are establishedthrough the mercury asabove described and only a very small proportionof the current leaks through the plate. This portion of the apparatusand its action are well known and need not be further described.

The present illustrative embodiment of the circuit controlling devicecomprises a disk 50, of insulating material mounted to rotate with theshaft 35 and provided with a pair of wedge-shaped semi-annular ribs51-52 on its under side. Between these ribs at diametrically opposedpoints are contacts 53, 54 having their under surfaces corresponding tothat of the ribs 51 and 52, the whole forming an annular wedge shapedrib. The contacts 53 and 5a are electrically connected by a conductor 56passing across the top of the disk 50. The wedge-shaped rib on the underside of the disk 50 rests upon the upper surfaces of vertical columns ofmercury 57 and 58, which are in communication with reservoirs 59 and 60,respectively, in which the upper surface of the mercury is higher thanthe upper surfaces of the columns. This causes the upper surfaces of thecolumns 57 and 58 to be forced against the under side of the rib on thedisk, and the surface tension of the mercury is such that it can assumea bulging shape yet not spill over the edge of the supporting walls ofthe vertical column. By this construction the friction between the uppermercury surfaces and the annular rib is constant, so that there is noretardation produced when the contacts 53 and 54 enter or leave themercury. The upper ends of the reservoirs 59 and 60 may be closed bycaps 61. Binding posts 62 and 63 project through the walls of thereservoirs 59 and 60, respectively into the mercury. The binding post 62is connected by a conductor 65 with a binding post 66, and the bindingpost 63 is connected by a conductor 67 with a binding post 68. Thebinding posts 66 and 68 are connected to an auxiliary circuit whichoperates a registering device or counter 70. The counter may be of anywell known form such as one comprising a train which is operated by arod 7 2 connected to the armature 7 l of amagnet 7 6. One coil of themagnet 76 is connected by a conductor 7 7 to the binding post 66, theother coil of said magnet is connected by a conductor 7 8 with one poleof a battery 80, and the other pole of said battery is connected byaconductor 81 with the binding post 68. Thus it will be seen that whenthe shaft 35 is rotated the auxiliary circuit through the contacts 53,54 is closed twice during each revolution of the shaft, thereby causingan intermittent current to pass through said circuit from the battery 80and energize the magnet 7 6 to operate the counter 70.

Copies of this patent may The circuit controlling device is notnecessarily embodied in an electric meter structure nor is itessentially used with an actuator of the type illustrated. I thereforedesire that only such limitations be imposed as are indicated in theappended claims.

WVhat I claim is 1. In a circuit interrupter, a rotary shaft, a contactcarrier on said shaft having a plurality of contacts mounted thereon,and a plurality of conducting liquid surfaces in continuous contact withsaid carrier.

2. In-a circuit interrupter, a rotary shaft, a contact carrier on saidshaft having an annular rib, a contact located in said rib and havingits contacting surface corresponding to that of the remainder of therib, and a conducting liquid surface in continuous contact with saidrib.

3. In a circuit interrupter, a rotary shaft, a disk on said shaft havingan annular rib composed of conducting and non-conducting sections, and aconducting liquid surface in continuous contact with said rib.

4. In a circuit interrupter,a rotary shaft, a contact carrier on saidshaft, a column of mercury having its upper surface in continuouscontact with said carrier, and a reservoir of mercury communicating withsaid column and having a head sufficient to maintain the surface-of saidcolumn under tension against said carrier.

In Witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 15th day of March1912.

EDWIN H. MESSITER. Witnesses:

FQB. GRAvEs, ERNEST W. MARSHALL.

Washington, D. G.

be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner ofPatents,

